1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods of inspection usable, for example, in the manufacture of devices by lithographic techniques and to methods of manufacturing devices using lithographic techniques.
2. Background Art
A lithographic apparatus is a machine that applies a desired pattern onto a substrate, usually onto a target portion of the substrate. A lithographic apparatus can be used, for example, in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). In that instance, a patterning device, which is alternatively referred to as a mask or a reticle, may be used to generate a circuit pattern to be formed on an individual layer of the IC. This pattern can be transferred onto a target portion (e.g., comprising part of, one, or several dies) on a substrate (e.g., a silicon wafer). Transfer of the pattern is typically via imaging onto a layer of radiation-sensitive material (resist) provided on the substrate. In general, a single substrate will contain a network of adjacent target portions that are successively patterned. Known lithographic apparatus include so-called steppers, in which each target portion is irradiated by exposing an entire pattern onto the target portion at one time, and so-called scanners, in which each target portion is irradiated by scanning the pattern through a radiation beam in a given direction (the “scanning”-direction) while synchronously scanning the substrate parallel or anti-parallel to this direction. It is also possible to transfer the pattern from the patterning device to the substrate by imprinting the pattern onto the substrate.
In order to monitor the lithographic process, it is necessary to measure parameters of the patterned substrate, for example the overlay error between successive layers formed in or on it. There are various techniques for making measurements of the microscopic structures formed in lithographic processes, including the use of scanning electron microscopes and various specialized tools. One form of specialized inspection tool is a scatterometer in which a beam of radiation is directed onto a target on the surface of the substrate and properties of the scattered or reflected beam are measured. By comparing the properties of the beam before and after it has been reflected or scattered by the substrate, the properties of the substrate can be determined. This can be done, for example, by comparing the reflected beam with data stored in a library of known measurements associated with known substrate properties. Two main types of scatterometer are known. Spectroscopic scatterometers direct a broadband radiation beam onto the substrate and measure the spectrum (intensity as a function of wavelength) of the radiation scattered into a particular narrow angular range. Angularly resolved scatterometers use a monochromatic radiation beam and measure the intensity of the scattered radiation as a function of angle.
In either a spectroscopic scatterometer or an angularly resolved scatterometer an objective lens is used to direct a beam of radiation on to the substrate. The radiation reflected from the substrate, then passes back through the objective lens, to be split from the incident radiation to pass towards a detector arrangement. However, the objective lens incorporated in such scatterometers is generally designed to be used for visible light, which is wavelengths between about 450 and 700 nm. In a scatterometer, it is advantageous to be able to use radiation of smaller wavelengths, for example about 400 nm. At such wavelengths however, particularly for angularly resolved scatterometers for which the numerical aperture of the objective lens is relatively large, chromatic aberration, in particular spherical aberration, exhibited by the objective lens becomes significant and the shape of the radiation spot on the substrate is not diffraction limited, leading to errors in the properties of the substrate determined from the reflected beam.